'Homeland' Episode 8: Finally, it all starts to make sense

In “All About Allison,” the eighth episode in Homeland’s fifth season, we finally (finally!) begin to make sense of how the hacked CIA docs, Carrie’s past in Iraq, General Youssef’s death, and Russian intelligence are all sewn together — and our seamstress is the lovely double agent, Allison Carr.

Homeland is not a show to dwell on the past — at least not in the form of regular flashbacks — but that aesthetic is temporarily ditched for “All About Allison” as we visit Allison and Carrie’s first encounter. It’s 2005, and Operation Iraqi Freedom is in a state of deep turmoil. Carrie arrives in Baghdad, a fresh-faced CIA agent who’s yet to experience the violence that she will one day be an expert at navigating — oh, and she’s yet to meet that questionable brown wig, as well (yay #BlondeCarrie).

In fact, Carrie is so green to this branch of the CIA that upon her arrival at the CIA’s Baghdad office, she stares at a wall of framed photos of American soldiers — one of them, Nick Brody. Nothing more than a passing glance.

But never mind that. Carrie is quickly pulled into Allison’s office, where Allison is ready to tie one on in the name of a slowly spiraling mission in Iraq. (Allison, by the way, had decided on bangs in the past — the tables have turned when it comes to wigs, in the meta sense with these actresses, at least.)

“You can’t shove democracy down people’s throats,” a more-than-jaded Allison says to Carrie as she downs some scotch. American soldiers’ bodies are stacking up in Iraq, and the idea of a society functioning amid the mayhem is a pipe dream in Allison’s eyes. She’s ready to hand over the reins to bright-eyed Carrie.

Allison has dreams of a life of leisure at this point: good shopping, great cocktails, beautiful men, and a little bar in St. Lucia called Banana Joe’s that’s known for its daiquiris. In other words: she’s ready to blow this CIA popsicle stand, ASAP.

But in order for Carrie to take over the post, she must be introduced to Allison’s contacts and assets. One is Judge Samir Khalil, who we know in present day has been ousted from his gig and is old news in judiciary circles. But in 2005, he’s one of the leading judicial figures in Baghdad, and believes that despite the “terrible struggle,” “success is possible” in Iraq. One of his main issues right now? A lawyer — Achmed Nazari — who is apparently selling the names of Sunni judges to Shiite death squads. No dice.

Carrie swears to Khalil that she will help as she takes over Allison’s post, but in private, Allison says that’s a no-go — Achmed is an asset of hers, and provides the kind of intel that is so valuable that it lands on the President’s desk each morning in Washington. Allison needs to hand Achmed over to Carrie as an asset, but apparently that won’t be a cake walk — Achmed doesn’t trust people easily, and might actually be in love with Allison, to boot.

Achmed lays it all out on the bed in "Homeland."

Image: Showtime

Fair enough. Carrie gives it the good ol’ college try in negotiations with Achmed, but Achmed puts his foot down — he either works with Allison, or, well, there isn’t really another option. In a private meeting with Achmed, Allison tries to convince her asset to accept Carrie as the new CIA contact in town. But Achmed, who tenderly strokes Allison’s hand, has other ideas — he professes his love to Allison, whips out a cash-packed suitcase, and proposes that they run away together.

While it’s unclear whether Allison has feelings for Achmed, her heart definitely skips a beat when she spots all that green — it could mean the lifestyle she’s been daydreaming about, and then some. She is, after all, not just a woman exhausted by a failing, bloody mission, but also a woman with expensive taste (even in present day, Allison manages her stress through retail therapy, buying designer bags online).

So, Allison plots to fly away from life as she knows it, with Achmed’s cash serving as the wind beneath her wings. In another private meeting with Achmed, she tells him to funnel the money to an account in the West Indies, and meet her in St. Lucia. Whether she really planned to spend the rest of her life with Achmed quickly becomes beside the point when —

Dun-dun-dun!

Ivan walks in from the other room, where recording devices abound.

Allison immediately realizes she’s screwed. Achmed had quietly been working with the Russians, and now Ivan has Allison in a horrible bind. Recordings showing that you were planning on running away with an asset and his stolen cash won’t go over too well back at CIA headquarters. But Allison quickly snaps, “I’m not a traitor,” knowing what’s about to be proposed.

Ivan is a smooth-talker, and he makes a good case. This is 2005, he points out, and Russian and American interests have never been more aligned. The idea that she is going to be compromising United States security by working with him seems farfetched. What’s more, Ivan sees that Allison is a highly ambitious woman, and he plays to that. She won’t be the only one handing off intel — he will feed her valuable information, too, thereby allowing her to rise quickly in her career.

“Let’s help each other make it to the very top,” he says. Plus, he adds that there's about $4 million waiting for her at the end of this double agent rainbow.

You can guess what Allison said to that.

So, when there was a bombing in Baghdad shortly thereafter that killed people in a courthouse, Achmed’s name just happened to be on the fatality list. It was likely the first bit of double-agent intelligent work that Allison did on behalf of the SVR. Allison relays that info to newbie Carrie, who is pissed by the “bad luck.” A key American asset in Iraq, dead, before Carrie’s even gotten into the swing of things — but Allison is unfazed.

Flash forward 10 years to the present day. Carrie is planning her meet with Allison to try to mine any info out of her about her time in Baghdad. She communicates with Allison through notes left in a bible at a church — a callback to the beginning of this season, when Carrie’s life was simpler and she found joy in prayer. Now, however, this house of worship is little more than a vessel where she returns to her old espionage ways.

And Carrie doesn’t know it, but her life is on the line in this meeting with Allison — Ivan has told Allison that in the case that Carrie knows too much about Achmed, they will take her out. Allison isn’t comfy with this plan, but agrees to continue with the meet.

Meanwhile, Saul is camped out at Etai’s place, and doesn’t truly want to defect from the CIA. Instead, he’s buying time while Carrie gets to the bottom of what’s in the hacked CIA docs — he believes that Carrie will be able to prove that the Russians were behind General Youssef’s private jet death, not Israel, and definitely not him.

Saul, biding his time on "Homeland."

Image: Showtime

As Saul notes to one Israeli intelligence agent, the Russians had reason to ixnay the Americans’ plan to oust Assad in Syria and sub in a new leader — Putin and Assad are allies, after all, so keeping Assad in power is of utmost importance to them. The Israeli agent asks if Saul trusts the person getting to the bottom of the info — Saul says he does, “with his life.” It’s Carrie to whom he's referring.

As for Quinn, he’s still playing chaperone to the extremists as they venture toward the Syrian border through Turkey. Only problem is, they aren’t headed to Turkey right now — they’ve made a pit stop in Kosovo for several days, which worries Quinn. To make matters worse, one of the leading extremists in the group is now withholding info from Quinn.

Tired of sitting on his ass in a truck waiting, Quinn does some sleuthing at the house where they’re parked and discovers a container of gas masks — bad, bad news. The lead extremist in the group apparently had no plans of actually going to the Syrian border — instead, he stopped in Kosovo to pick up chemical weapons that he’s going to truck back to Berlin.

Quinn can’t do much to stop it — when he gets defiant over the new weapons pickup, he’s quickly knocked out, and wakes up in the back of the truck, surrounded by toxic chemical containers, as one of the extremist prays in the background. They’re headed to Berlin, a horrific terrorist attack on the horizon.

Carrie meets with Allison at an outdoor cafe, not knowing there’s a sniper nearby ready to take her out — all Allison has to do is give the signal by lighting a cigarette. Carrie hurriedly downloads Allison on her situation: the SVR wants her dead, and it all leads back to Achmed in Baghdad. The hacked docs show that Samir Khalil tried to get in touch with Carrie to inform her that Achmed was in fact still alive.

An emotional Carrie begs Allison to give her any scrap of information — did Allison have any reason to question the intel she got from Achmed back in the Operation Iraqi Freedom days? Did she ever suspect that Achmed was a plant? “They’re trying to kill me,” Carrie pleads to Allison. “I need this to end.”

Allison agrees to help Carrie, but with very specific ultimatums: the hacked CIA docs will never see the light of day again, and Carrie won’t talk about this with anyone else. Carrie readily agrees, and Allison departs, cigarette unlit — “Watch your back, Carrie,” she says as she leaves.

Allison walks away.

Image: Showtime

Carrie fudged the truth some, though. She has been talking about this Achmed connection with others — hell, she has the man’s computer from her cat burglary incident in Amsterdam. Our (living) hacker is helping her dig through Achmed’s computer, but Carrie bumps up against the same problem she faced with the hacked documents: she doesn’t really know what she’s looking for.

Frustrated, Carrie pauses to think. As she does, Achmed’s computer goes to screen saver — a pic of Achmed at a beautiful beach bar.

In St. Lucia.

Banana Joe’s.

Carrie’s mind flashes back to Allison, dreaming of daiquiris at that very bar. The puzzle pieces fall together in Carrie’s mind — Allison is responsible for this. Was she at Banana Joe's with Achmed? We don't yet know.

But Carrie realizes that Allison is tied to Achmed’s fake death, that Allison swept him away from Baghdad, that Allison is the thread traveling through these incidents, and so, so much more.

AJ Marechal is a writer and entertainment journalist based in Los Angeles. She has held editorial positions at Allure, Harper's Bazaar and Playboy, and most recently served as Variety's TV reporter. At Variety, AJ covered all aspects of the televisio...More

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